A common problem encountered in digital camera focusing systems is that of detecting when there are multiple objects at different distances within the focus region and once detected, properly choosing which object to focus on. Previous methods required extensive searching to determine if there were objects nearer or farther than the current focus position.
Because of the extensive search times that are required, this type of focus determination is many times not performed because of the desire for better camera performance. Thus, the focus system may not be aware that there are other objects in the focus region that could be focused upon. This can result in focusing on an object that is not the desired object that the user intended to focus on.